Prasanna - The magician turns 60

It's over three decades now since I heard the story that I am about to relate. But I remember it as clearly as if it had been told to me only yesterday. The man who related this to me was PN Sundaresan, then cricket correspondent of The Hindu and for many years editor of Indian Cricket almanac. A veteran observer of the game since the 1940s, Sundaresan had seen it all and yet he told me this story, centering around the bowling skills of EAS Prasanna, with almost undisguised eagerness.

It happened at Bombay in the first Test between India and Australia in November 1969. Prasanna was then at the peak of his powers but so was Bill Lawry, the visiting captain. An obdurate and high scoring opening batsman, Lawry was known for his steadfast defence and intense concentration. And yet even he was foxed by Prasanna's subtlety and cunning.

It came about this way. The left handed Lawry had repeatedly pushed deliveries from Prasanna, which were leg breaks to him, with the turn astutely just between point and cover for a single. Over and over again he did this against Prasanna who seemed to feed him on this stroke. Then suddenly, Prasanna sent down a straighter one. But it was bowled with such deceptiveness that it escaped even Lawry's eagle eye. The experienced opener, who had batted about two hours for 25, made to play the push to the offside again. But to his horror, the ball did not turn, went straight through and hit the middle and off stumps.

Years later, I asked Ian Chappell about his encounters with Bedi and Prasanna in India during that tour and he described them as a `great learning experience.' He said that in facing fast bowling, it was important that the batsman got his body quickly into position to avoid injury and get into the right position to play a stroke. While facing the best spin bowlers, he found his brain was always working to counter their skills. Indeed, he admitted that the brain had to work overtime in order to avoid getting fooled by Bedi and Prasanna.

Chappell has always considered Prasanna as the best spin bowler he faced in his long career and it must not be forgotten that he was a splendid player of the turning ball. But then even such a marvellous player of any kind of bowling as Vivian Richards was foxed by the wily Prasanna. I was fortunate enough to be present at Chepauk in January 1975 when this happened. Richards groped forward to a good length delivery, hoping to play a correct forward defensive push. To his surprise, the ball turned out to be a huge floater, turned the other way, and took the edge of the bat on the way to wicketkeeper Engineer.

One could go on and on about Prasanna's bowling skills. After all, so many of the 189 wickets he snared in 49 Tests between 1962 and 1978 were the result of deliveries that beggar description. But then this is only a 60th birthday tribute to the man who did so much to uphold the richest traditions of Indian spin bowling. Even in the long, illustrious line of such bowlers, the name of Erapalli Prasanna will figure right there at the very top of the list. He had flight and turn, control over line and length and ran the entire gamut of the spin bowler's art.

One of these days you may hear about a young spin bowler being hailed as another Prasanna. That is impossible. For there can be only one Prasanna. Happy birthday, Pras and thank you for the music!